RESERVOIR ROCK

PROPERTIES Lecture 2
Pore Volume Measurement
The most important property of a reservoir rock is the porosity.
Porosity is measure of storage capacity of a reservoir.
It s defined as the ratio of pore volume to bulk volume
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From the definition of porosity, it s evident that we can measure the porosity
of a porous sample from three quantities:

01 ⇐

Bulk volume Hi

02
41
Pore volume
03
* ⇐

Grain volume
 ↳
Ii

It should be noted that the porosity does01¥

not give any information concerning pore size, their
distribution, and their degree of connectivity thus, rocks that have the same porosity can have
widely different properties. However, in the last experiment we talked about how to measure the
bulk volume to find the porosity. In this one we are interested in measuring the pore volume.

The methods are based on:

Or the introduction of a fluid into

the pore spaces of the rock.
are Two
✗hare either the extraction of a fluid
Disadvantages from the rock
There are many methods that used to measure
the pore volume such as:

gas expansion, The helium gas in the reference cell

isothermally expands into a sample cell

Another method that vacuum saturation

method that work by emptying the air that in the
pore spaces of the sample by a vacuum and the
saturated the sample with water.
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Since the fluid can only inter or leave the connected pores, the porosity obtained
from these methods is the effective porosity
The importance of porosity lies in determining the original hydrocarbon in
place, because the porosity is the container of the fluid (oil or gas).

Because pore volume is the excess of bulk volume over grain volume, values of
pore volume vary with method dependent value of bulk volume.
 Liquid saturation method
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1- The concept of fluid displacement is based on mass/material balance. #

In this technique, we weigh a dry core and measure the dimensions, specifically the
diameter and length of the core.
*
*,
2- Then, we vacuum saturate the core with water or brine (salt water), for instance, to make
sure that the water has filled all the pore spaces and no air is trapped in the core
 Liquid
Liquidsaturation
saturationmethod
method
3- The core is then weighed to find the saturated weight. Subtracting the saturated
-_
weight
from the dry weight, we obtain the weight of the water in the pore spaces. By dividing the
→
weight of the water by the density of the water, we obtain the pore volume: g
WIES V1 jg ,

↳ I
* I %)

swivel

where Ws is the weight of the core saturated with fluid [g], Wd is the dry weight of the core
3]; since the fluid in this case is water, the density
is 1 g/cm3.

Note that the weight term is analogous to mass, unlike in physics where weight is a force.
 Liquid saturation
Liquid method
saturation method
I Lil
Procedure summary
-
1. using the analytical balance, we measure the weight of the dry core
sample.

2. We close the salt water vessel valve, and we open the vacuum pump
valve and we turn on the pump.

3. after sucking out all air from the chamber, we turn off the vacuum
pump.
4. we open the salt water vessel s valve to let the salt water flow into
the chamber and fill (saturates) the dry core sample.

5. we take out the sample and measure its weight using the analytical
balance. Iki ↳ it
 gas expansion (helium technique)

The second method used to measure pore volume is the method of gas expansion
using a helium porosimeter, which relies on Boyle s law:
P1V1 = P2V2

The helium gas in the reference cell isothermally expands into a sample cell. After expansion,
the resultant equilibrium pressure is measured.
 gas expansion (helium technique)
Helium has advantages over other gases I ↳↳
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I ‫يتميز الهيليوم بقدرة‬
‫ وبالتالي‬، ‫انتشار عالية‬
helium has a high diffusivity its small molecules rapidly
‫يوفر وسيلة مفيدة لتحديد‬
and therefore affords a ‫مسامية الصخور‬ penetrated small pores
useful means for determining .‫منخفضة النفاذية‬
porosity of low permeability
rocks.

z = ‫يمكن اعتبار الهيليوم غاًزا مثالًيا )أي‬

‫( للضغوط ودرجات الحرارة املستخدمة‬1.0
‫عادةً في االختبار‬

helium can be considered as Advantages

an ideal gas (i.e., z = 1.0) for
pressures and temperatures ‫إنه خامل وال يمتص على األسطح‬
usually employed in the test ‫الصخرية كما يفعل الهواء‬

it is inert and does not

adsorb on rock surfaces
as air may do
 gas expansion (helium technique)

system shown in Figure

pressure sensor

valve isolated

Chambers
Chambers
1 and 2 should be of fixed volumes
 gas expansion (helium technique)
Procedure summary

1. We fill chamber 1 with helium and then record the

pressure; thus, we have P and V 1 1

2. If we open the valve to chamber 2, then Boyle s law

becomes:
P1V1 = P2(V1 + V2)
3. If we consider an actual case where we have a rock inside
chamber 2 ,then Boyle s law becomes: ‫ سوف يصل الهيليوم إلى جميع‬، ‫في هذه الحالة‬
‫ الفضاء الوحيد الذي لن‬.‫الغرف ومساحات املسام‬
P1V1 = P2(V1 + V2 Vm) ‫يتمكن الهيليوم من الوصول إليه هو حجم املصفوفة‬
‫ يمكننا‬، ‫ألنه غير مسامي ؛ باستخدام هذه التقنية‬
.‫حساب املسامية‬
In this case, helium will access all the chambers and the pore
spaces. The only space helium will not access is the matrix
volume as it is not porous; using this technique, we can
calculate the porosity.
RESERVOIR ROCK
PROPERTIES Lecture 3
Grain Volume Measurement
The most important property of a reservoir rock is the porosity.
Porosity is measure of storage capacity of a reservoir.
It s defined as the ratio of pore volume to bulk volume
From the definition of porosity, it s evident that we can measure the porosity
of a porous sample from three quantities:

01
Bulk volume
02

Pore volume
03

Grain volume
 Grain volume
is the volume of the solid materials in the rock
Boyle s law is often employed with helium as the gas to determine grain volume.
The technique is fairly rapid, and is valid on clean and dry sample.

Methods of Grain Volume Measurement

Gas expansion
Crashing method: The process of this one is by crush a dry and clean core sample with a mortar and pestle into
a fine grains, thus removing all pores including the non interconnection ones. The volume of solids is then determined
either by immersing the cuttings in suitable liquid or by pycnometer. This method is applies specifically to the rocks that
have grains such as sandstone (can be crushed by mortar and pestle) and it s so difficult to apply this method on
carbonate as example because of their hardness and lack of individual grains.
 gas expansion (helium technique)

The second method used to measure pore volume is the method of gas expansion
using a helium porosimeter, which relies on Boyle s law:
P1V1 = P2V2

The helium gas in the reference cell isothermally expands into a sample cell. After expansion,
the resultant equilibrium pressure is measured.
 gas expansion (helium technique)
Procedure summary

1. We fill chamber 1 with helium and then record the

pressure; thus, we have P and V
1 1

2. If we open the valve to chamber 2, then Boyle s law

becomes:
P1V1 = P2(V1 + V2)
3. If we consider an actual case where we have a rock inside
chamber 2 ,then Boyle s law becomes:
P1V1 = P2(V1 + V2 Vm)

In this case, helium will access all the chambers and the pore
spaces. The only space helium will not access is the matrix
volume as it is not porous; using this technique, we can
calculate the porosity.
 gas expansion (helium technique)
Procedure summary

1. We will calculate Vm from the equation, as V1

and V2 are constants and P1 and P2 will be read
from the equipment.
2. After finding Vm and also knowing the bulk
volume of the core, which is easy to measure, we
can calculate the pore volume as Vp = Vb Vm
and the porosity is equal to Vp divided by Vb.
 gas expansion (helium technique)
Procedure summary

1. We will calculate Vm from the equation, as V1

and V2 are constants and P1 and P2 will be read
from the equipment.
2. After finding Vm and also knowing the bulk
volume of the core, which is easy to measure, we
can calculate the pore volume as Vp = Vb Vm
and the porosity is equal to Vp divided by Vb.
RESERVOIR ROCK
PROPERTIES Saturation Measurement
What is Saturation?
Pores usually contain more than one fluid in them. The fraction of pore space
occupied by a specific fluid is called saturation. Saturation is the ratio of fluid volume
to the pore volume.
We use fluid saturation to quantify the volume of oil and/or gas in the reservoirs

Types of Measurements
There are two methods to determine or measure
fluid saturation
Direct: using core samples through:
- Retort distillation
- Solvent extraction (Dean-Stark method)
Indirect: capillary pressure and well log
analysis (resistivity logs)
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non -
damages the core

logs

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Measurement of Fluid Saturations

In determining the fluid saturations from a core sample, two

techniques are commonly employed; evaporation of the fluids
in the pore space, known as the retort method, and the
leaching of fluids in the pore space, known as the Dean-Stark
extraction method.
retort technique
In the retort technique the sample is sealed inside an aluminum cell and then
0 0

heated in stages from 400 F to 1100 F.

This is to evaporate all the fluids in the system (oil and water). The vapors will rise
and reach a condensing tube where cold water is being circulated.
The vaporized liquids will condense back to liquid form and will be collected in the
graduated cylinder after passing through the condensing tube. Once we have the
volumes of oil and water from this method and by knowing the pore volume of the
core sample.
retort technique

we can calculate the water and oil saturations using

The advantages to this method is the time for the experiment is short,
typically less than 24 hours, and multiple samples can be run
simultaneously. The disadvantages are heating process burns oil to the
pore surfaces. This is known as the coking effect and thus results in oil
recovery less than the initial amount in the sample.
Dean-Stark extraction method
For this experiment

A core sample is placed at the top of a solvent flask,

as shown in Figure. The solvents used are usually
toluene (hydrocarbon solvent) or a mixture of toluene
and methanol. Methanol can be used in the presence
of salty water.
The solvent is heated to around 230 F (110 C, the
boiling point of toluene), so that the water present in
both the core and the solvent evaporates when the
temperature in the system exceeds the boiling point
of these fluids. -
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The toluene vapor will strip the oil from the core and
travel upward as toluene is miscible with oil.
Once the vapor goes upward, it will reach the
condensing tube with circulating cooling water
 Both fluids (water and solvent) will drop down in the graduated cylinder.
Since water is denser than the solvent, it will settle at the bottom of the
graduated tube, while the condensed solvent (being less dense) will
accumulate on top of the water until it drops down to the solvent flask.

This method can measure the volume of water directly, and the water
saturation can be calculated if the pore volume of the core sample is known.
We cannot measure the oil
Dean-Stark extraction method

The Dean-Stark extraction method uses the vapor of a solvent to rise through the core and leach
out the oil and water. The water condenses and is collected in a graduated cylinder. The solvent
and oil continuously cycle through the extraction process. A typical solvent is toluene, miscible
with the oil but not the water.

This method is
also known as
Soxhlet
extraction or
solvent
extraction
The advantages of the Dean-Stark method are the accuracy, the oil
and water measurement are on the same sample and the core can
be used for further analysis. The primary disadvantage of this
method is the long time it takes to complete the measurement;
sometimes weeks. Also, it has been suggested oil in small pore
throats and channels are bypassed.
RESERVOIR ROCK
PROPERTIES Permeability Measurement
What is Permeability?
is a measure of the ease with which the fluid flows in the porous medium

High Permeability

Low Permeability

The permeability of a rock measured when it is 100% saturated with a single phase
(water, oil, or gas) is often called single-phase permeability ,
absolute permeability, or just permeability .